MSNBC Returns Ed Schultz To Weekdays, Trims ‘Hardball’ To One Show A Night

MSNBC is moving Ed Schultz back to weekdays, after shipping him to weekends just a few months ago. Starting a week from today, Schultz is taking on the 5 PM weekday time slot and Chris Matthews’ Hardballwill run just once a day, at 7 PM — a switch from its double run at 5 and 7. “Chris and the Hardball team have been the cornerstone of our evening lineup, pulling double duty for us at both 5 PM and 7 PM for years,” MSNBC president Phil Griffin said in a staff memo. The move will concentrate the Matthews crowd at 7; it will also “bring Ed’s powerful voice back to the Monday-Friday schedule,” Griffin said, stating the obvious, while adding, “I’ve been thinking about making this change for quite a while and I know now is the right time with the right shows.” Which is odd because just last March MSNBC announced Schultz’s show was being bounced from 8 PM weeknights to Saturday and Sunday afternoons. No word what’s replacing Schultz’s show on weekends. Schultz, who’s been with MSNBC since 2009, initially got an afternoon slot, then moved to primetime at 10 PM, then moved to 8, before being shipped to the weekends — and now back to weekday primetime.